System and method of electronic and physical mail categorization and targeted delivery

Abstract

Embodiments include systems and methods of a service that allows hard copy and electronic media customers to proactively specify, across a broad range of categories, the hard copy mail and/or electronic media mail that they would or would not like to receive. Embodiments include methods and systems configured to allow customers of delivery services to customize the flow of physical items such as hard copy or other letters or parcels, for delivery or electronic media mail from mailers based on highly specific customer-designated criteria. The delivery service acts as a trusted third party to serve as the intermediary between the recipient of the items and mailers to provide privacy and manage a repository for a customer-selected criteria database. In addition, one embodiment provides verification and/or identification that mail being sent meets the customer's designated criteria.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of processing items to be delivered, the method comprising:
 storing, by a hardware processor in a database on a non-transitory computer readable medium, a first plurality of delivery addresses and customer preferences associated with each of the delivery addresses; 
 generating, by the hardware processor, first hash values for only each of the first plurality of delivery addresses stored in the database; 
 storing, by the hardware processor, the first hash values; 
 receiving, by processing equipment of a delivery service, a second plurality of delivery addresses for customers and one or more sender criteria; 
 generating, by the processing equipment of the delivery service, second hash values for each of the second plurality of delivery addresses; 
 searching, by the processing equipment of the delivery service, the database for first hash values corresponding to each of the second hash values; 
 storing, by the processing equipment of the delivery service, the second hash values; 
 accessing, in the database using the hardware processor, the customer preferences for each of the first hash values for which a corresponding second hash value is stored; 
 comparing, using the hardware processor, the one or more sender criteria to the customer preferences associated with the one or more of the plurality of delivery addresses for which a corresponding second hash value is identified; 
 generating, by the processing equipment of the delivery service, a third plurality of delivery addresses of the plurality of delivery addresses for which the customer preferences correspond to one or more of the received sender criteria; 
 providing, by the processing equipment of the delivery service via an electronic interface, a plurality of first or second hash values of delivery addresses on the generated third plurality of delivery addresses; 
 receiving, in processing equipment of a delivery service, an item having at least one of the plurality of first or second hash values thereon; 
 reading, in the processing equipment, the first or second hash value from the item; determining, in the processing equipment, the delivery address for the item based on the read first or second hash value; 
 identifying, in the processing equipment, that the determined delivery address is based on the read first or second hash value; 
 prior to attempting delivery of the item, generating, in the processing equipment, an instruction to not return undeliverable mail in response to an undeliverable indication; 
 coding, in the processing equipment, the instruction in a barcode in response to the identifying; and 
 redirecting the item by the processing equipment based on the determined delivery address. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sender generates the second hash values. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sender criteria comprises geographic location. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determined delivery address comprises a virtual address. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the hardware processor, a user code; and combining, by the hardware processor, the user code with a delivery address prior to generating a one of the second hash values. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , additionally comprising receiving, using the hardware processor via an interface, the customer preferences from customers, and storing the customer preferences in the database. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the delivery address for a customer is a physical address. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , additionally comprising preventing the sender from obtaining actual addresses of customers by providing, by the processing equipment of the delivery service, to the sender the plurality of first or second hash values of delivery addresses on the generated third plurality of delivery addresses. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising applying, in the processing equipment, an indicia to the item. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , additionally comprising coding in the processing equipment the delivery address of the customer in the indicia. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining, by a delivery management system, an undeliverable indication for the item, and identifying by the processing equipment of the delivery service the item for destruction rather than delivering the item to the customer or returning the item to the sender based on the undeliverable indication. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the sender places the first or second hash value of one of the delivery addresses from the generated third plurality of delivery addresses onto the item before providing the item to the delivery service for delivery. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the customer preferences include subject matter categories of electronic or hardcopy communications, and geographical preferences. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a relational geographic reference database, and wherein the customer preferences are accessed using the relational geographic reference database. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the preferences for each customer are stored in the database using the hash value of the corresponding delivery address to map to the preferences for that address. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the barcode is an intelligent mail barcode. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , additionally comprising providing a vetted preferences designation for indication to the customer on physical or electronic communications sent to the customer in response to the identifying.